Caught You!
A vicious killer is on the loose. You’ve been sent the evidence. Can you crack the case and reveal what happened?
‘Puzzles by post’ is not a new concept, and it seems like each week we see a new company appearing offering this service, but that makes sense as it’s a great idea! Mystery Mail are one such company who are hoping to capitalise on us all being bored beyond belief at home, and they have (at time of writing) released three iterations of their mystery mailings; Catch me if you can, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and A Very Merry Christmas.
The first thing you notice when you receive this card through your door is the quality of everything. Even before we opened it we were impressed with the attention to detail, shiny stickers that looked official, and a nice and big ‘EVIDENCE’ label clearly on the front (what must our neighbours think?).
Our mission was straightforward, there was a killer on the loose, the Police were a bit stumped, so they sent the evidence over to us to help them piece it all together. All we had to do was work out the Who/When/Where and How. No pressure then.
CONCEPT/EXECUTION
Essentially you receive an envelope in the mail and you have no idea who sent it, you have to solve the clues and then enter your final password into an online portal where all will be revealed. The sender has the choice of writing a message or uploading a video for the recipient – a great way to make them work for it!
Most of what you need is contained within the card that you receive, however you will also need access to the internet, a phone, and email. There’s even a space where you can write down your findings which helps keep everything together in one place.
PUZZLES
This game is made up of six questions that you need to answer; Who, When – Time, Where, When – Date, When – Month, and How? Like a true detective you have to go through all the evidence and tools you have at your disposal to work out the answers.
The puzzles were generally fair and had a mixture of logic, observation and just general detective-driven puzzles. Make sure you read and study everything, you have all you need and don’t need to turn to Google for help.
Out of the puzzles there was probably one that we weren’t really a fan of at the time, but that is because we had the right method for solving it but didn’t take it to the next step, it seemed like a bit of leap but in hindsight it was probably pretty fair.
We brute-forced one puzzle because we made the mistake of turning to Google. When we didn’t get the answer we just tried every possible permeation until we got it right, then we worked backwards – again, don’t turn to Google.
CLUE SYSTEM
The idea behind the clue system was that your colleagues on hand in the Police station were on hand to help should you need them. Obviously it’s hard to make that immersive, but the clues were enough to get back on track when needed.
If you go to the clue page you’ll find that each section has its own clues so there is no chance of accidentally seeing something you didn’t want to. Thanks to this system, the recipient will get to your message, one way or another!
FINAL THOUGHTS
As a system, Mystery Mail is solid and a great way to deliver a message to a friend (while making them work for it). This wasn’t our favourite of their games, and it did have the most serious theme so probably not the best for Christmas either.
TOOLS REQUIRED
- Pen/Pencil
- Mobile phone
- Device with an internet connection
- Email account
Final Rating:
| Puzzles | |
| Concept/Execution | |
| Clue System | |
| Value for Money | |
| Enjoyment |
Team: 2 players
Time Taken: 26 mins
Website: https://mystery-mail.co.uk/
*Disclaimer: we weren’t charged for this experience, but this has not influenced our review.
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